A 60ft giant blue whale carcass washed up on a beach in Namibia – believed to be the first time the species has been found in the area.

The marine creature was found by locals on the shallows during low-tide with a fin injury and bleeding in different parts of the body in Walvis Bay on April 27.

The Antarctic blue whale drifted 5,000 miles away from its usual feeding grounds after a suspected collision with a ship.

Namibian Dolphin Project (NPD) had taken samples of the whale’s carcass for an autopsy while local authorities planned how to dispose of the body properly.

NPD conservationist Simon Elwen said the blue whale was the first of its sub-species to be found in the area in recorded history.

He said: ‘It’s the first stranding of this sub-species, the Antarctic blue whale, in southern Africa. It’s probably the first in all of Africa, but I don’t have access to all relevant databases.

‘We are as confident as we can be without a full necropsy that the cause of death was a ship strike.

‘It looks like the ship hit the flank, then the animal was rolled and the fin was broken too. It likely died very quickly.’

Antarctic blue whales are the biggest animals on earth and could reach up to 100ft-long which suggests that the dead whale was a juvenile.

Walvis Bay City officials said they are planning to remove the carcass from the beach but they will have to find a way how to do it because of its massive size.